The Same, Different World
by TuttleTuttlewood
Summary: In which the Ghost crew is slightly altered. Or, my take on the Rebels series. My friend, Akasmileyface helped me write this.


DISCLAIMER: None of this would have been possible without the grace, providence, and love of God. It is He who gives me the ability to write, inspiration, and the time to write. I would not be here today without Him. I would like to give God all the glory and honor. Thank You God, for giving me new life, a sound mind, and talents.

Kanan was sure he felt a hand, gliding lightly over his belt. He was in a crowded marketplace, near the heart of Lothal. He'd been scanning the crowd, before he felt a slight tug on the corner of his belt. Near where he left his lightsaber. Did he just get pickpocketed? Of course, he of all people should know, because he used to be a thief before Hera found him. He was shaken out of his thoughts, as he spotted a figure jumping across the buildings above. How'd the thief get there so fast? He was leaping over the great alleys between the roofs now, easily clearing each gap.  
"Get back here, thief!" Kanan shouted, but his voice was lost in the crowd. A few bystanders gave him a weird look, while others refused to even make eye contact with him. Kanan picked up his pace. Kanan assumed that if he followed this thief for long enough, he would lead Kanan to the outskirts of town. People who were desperate enough to steal usually couldn't afford houses, so the ghettos were their only option. Besides, they were less likely to be caught if they lived outside of town. This was a huge advantage to Kanan, because once they escaped the prying eyes of the general populace, he could use the Force to easily and quickly detain this thief. No one would see, no one would know. Kanan nearly tripped, and nearly received a mouthful of good ol' Loth dirt, when his communicator suddenly chimed.

Grumbling, he grabbed the device and switched the speaker on.

"Specter 1, where are you, you missed your check in" shouted an angry Hera.

Kanan winced. "Er… everything's fine. I received the payment."

"Than why did you miss check in? You didn't answer my question."

"I missed check in twice, and I was only gone for three days. Why do you care so much about where I've been? Did you miss me?" Kanan snarked.

"I know you can't tell, but I'm rolling my eyes. The reason you check in is so I know that you're not dead or hurt or something." Hera shot back. She wasn't taking any of his snark today. Not that she ever did…

Kanan's eyes widened, as he watched the thief rappel off the edge of a tower. He landed gracefully on the ground, and ran out into the empty, grassy field. That was a force jump, if Kanan ever saw one.

"I'll call you back later I'm in the middle of something okay bye." Kanan spluttered, before sprinting after that thief.

"What?! Kanan!" Hera shouted as the comm cut off.

Kanan ran after him, focusing all his energy on a sprint. The thief was only a few meters ahead. From here, Kanan could SEE that the thief was wearing an orange jumpsuit, under his brown cloak. Strands of indigo hair poked out from beneath the hood. Kanan glanced around, to make sure that there was no one around to witness what he was about to do. Fortunately, they'd strayed far enough from the town, so that no one would notice them.

Kanan called out in the Force, and he was able to snag a corner of the cloak. The thief was so surprised by this, that he toppled over and landed face-first in the grass. While he was still spluttering, Kanan advanced, his hold on the cloak strengthening.

"Why do you even have this?" the thief asked. He realized that struggling was futile, and he had no way of escaping Kanan.

"There's no reason for me to answer the questions of a thief." Kanan replied, reaching for the lightsaber's hilt.

A long time ago, Kanan tried to steal some credits off of a green-skinned beggar. It was underhanded and shameful, he knew, but she was an easy target. As he reached for the bag of credits by her side, she swiftly grabbed his wrist and squeezed it. However, this motion revealed a strange symbol on her clothing-a crescent, with a serif emerging from the center.

"What's that?" Kanan asked, pointing to the symbol with his free hand. In that moment, he forgot that he was supposed to be stealing from her.

"Why should I answer to a thief like you?" the twi'lek beggar replied.  
Later that day, Kanan realized that she was not a beggar at all. She was Hera Syndulla, a rebel syndicate, and soon the love of his life.

A beam of glowing, blue light shot past Kanan's ear, nearly impaling him in the side of the head. The thief had apparently activated his lightsaber, while he was distracted by a memory of Hera.

"Whoops." the thief said, without a trace of any real remorse on his face, which was mostly obscured by large, cracked goggles. His hood had fallen off in the scuffle, revealing wavy, unshorn blue hair beneath. In a matter of seconds, the thief wriggled out of Kanan's grasp, and pointed the lightsaber at his chest.

"I'm going to walk away now, and you're going to stay right where you are or else." he growled.

His voice had taken a more ferocious tone now, like that of a cornered animal.

"Or else what?" Kanan replied, snide till the end.

"Or else I'll stab you with-"

Before the thief could even finish his sentence, a loud sound from behind caused both Kanan and his aggressor to turn around. It was a large, disc shaped transport ship, with bright white headlights. Bright white headlights that were now focused on Kanan and the thief. Two noseguns were trained on the thief, who shrank under the bright lights. Kanan's eyes darted to the thief's face, and he was delighted to see a expression of pure terror there. Apparently, the thief had never gotten into this trouble before. That's what happens when you mess with Kanan Jarrus, he thought smugly.

"Dealing with delinquents I see." Hera's voice boomed from the ship.

Five minutes and a lot of screaming later, Kanan sat in the cockpit beside Hera. She had a bemused look on her beautiful face. His trusty lightsaber was back on his belt. Beneath him, on the floor, was a very angry teenager with blue hair. He was bound and gagged, so he couldn't run away. It was weird, because once the thief had lost his cloak and goggles, he looked like nothing more than a frightened young boy.

"Lmmego!" the kid grumbled, through the gag.

"Sorry but we can't do that because someone screwed up the mission and got robbed by a kid. Besides, you saw him using the Force, so you have to stay with us for now." Hera said calmly, shooting a dirty glance at Kanan. Kanan looked away.

"Hey, he was using the Force too!" Kanan retorted, in an attempt to defend himself.

"So you're a force user too." Hera asked. As if this day could get any more bizarre…

The child nodded his head vigorously, causing his blue locks to bounce up and down.

"What gave you the idea to steal from Kanan?" Hera inquired.

"Wemphicntrllyesplnwiffdisonmifees." the thief mumbled. The gag was still on, Kanan realized.

"Kanan why did you gag the kid? Take it off it is unnecessary!"

Kanan began the tedious process of removing the tight gag from the young thief's mouth. "Well he's an annoying little brat without it."

"So are you, but I don't gag you." Hera quipped lovingly.

"Well, I wanted Kanan's lightsaber, because it was interesting. I've only heard stories about such weapons, and I wanted to own one. To disassemble it, to discover its secrets. Besides, think about all the things a poor orphan like me can do with a lightsaber. I could cook food with it, I could fight off animals with it, I could do repairs with it… the list goes on."

"Well we won't have any of that on my ship. Where do you live?"

The kid replied, in the most insufferable tone, "First of all, I thought you said that I couldn't leave because I saw Mr. Reckless over there doing his Force-thingy. Second of all, I live everywhere, and now here. I have no family to come home to, and I can't really call any particular structure my 'home'. So I just wander around, staying wherever I want, and leaving whenever I want."

Kanan felt a twinge of pity. He and Hera exchanged a look, because that kid sounded a lot like Caleb Dume.

"Would you want to stay here? Under some conditions, though. We have several spare cabins and food on occasion. But you can't fly the ship, snoop around the cabins, or steal unless directed to." Hera offered, altruistically.

"No. You guys are boring people." the kid scoffed.

"Well, Kanan I have to take him 'in' then." Hera sighed to Kanan.

The thief scoffed indignantly. "Didn't you hear me? I said I'm. Not. Going. With-"

Hera raised a blaster to his face, and inconspicuously set it to stun.

"I said, do you want to join us? Remember, I am offering you a chance to be a part of something, for once; when I could've easily killed you on the spot."

Kanan had to restrain his giggling, because he knew that sweet, justice-loving Hera would never murder a child in cold blood. But apparently, the kid didn't know that. For once, the ever-sarcastic, ever witty child had no words. A look of sheer terror had enveloped his face, and Kanan wished he could take a holo-vid of that face.

"O-okay then. Yep. That's fine. Thank you? Thank you, I guess…" he stammered, before Hera shot him with the blaster. Before the poor kid passed out, he grumbled,

"But I accepted your offer!"

Kanan's face morphed into an expression of pure and utter horror. He didn't know that Hera was capable of such cruelty!

"What was that for?! I thought he agreed to go with us!"

"It was on stun, you dolt! He can't know where we are going. You already know I would never hurt a child like that!"

Kanan began to laugh. It wasn't a mirthful laugh, it was more like an awkward, self-deprecating chuckle. He laughed at his own stupidity, and he laughed at the fact that he just narrowly avoided a moral crisis. If the woman he loved murdered a child in front of him, he didn't know what he'd do.

Please review, or something. I'm not one to tell others what to do. OH YES I AM.


End file.
